As economists and investors scour data on inflation, jobs, housing, banking and other bellwether indicators to determine whether the US is headed for a recession, a visit to the nation's largest food-bank warehouse offers some ominous clues.
More than half of the shelves at the Atlanta Community Food Bank are bare, in part because of supply-chain issues, but mostly because demand for food assistance is as high as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit's executives said. They said two in five people seeking food assistance in the Atlanta region this year have not done so before.
"Food banks have been around for 50 years, but this is the first time we are seeing unprecedented high food demand combined with historically low unemployment rates," said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, which supports 60,000 food pantries. The bread carts are pictured at The Community Assistance Center food pantry, in Atlanta, Georgia, April 12.
Michael McKee, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which serves 25 counties astride the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, said COVID emergency assistance masked underlying economic realities. According to the latest available figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has outpaced wage gains since March 2020.
The SNAP government program is by far the largest method of feeding the hungry in the United States. Food banks and pantries account for about a tenth as many meals distributed, but they are still the second-largest provider and therefore serve as a critical part of the social safety net. Houston Food Bank Chief Executive Brian Greene, who has worked in the industry since 1988, said it is difficult to make comparisons over time because demand has historically outstripped supply. He said the Houston Food Bank, the nation's largest by volume, is distributing less food this year than last but that is because cash and food donations are down.Pantries supplied by the Blue Ridge food bank in Virginia also reported recent spikes.
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